Yeah, me neither.  It’s a tough realization to come to, but when you look at the state of the music industry today you see that maybe it’s for the best.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/companies/napster_music_industry/index.htm

But you like working with sound!  And you dread getting a “normal” job like your parents told you to.  Before I got into post, my dad suggested that I become an accountant!  I’m not even good at math!

Fear not, there is hope: post production sound comes to the rescue.  What exactly is post production sound?  Well, in the general sense it is all the work necessary to create the final sound for movies, TV, videogames, online video, and more.  While music sales (and jobs) are falling through the floor, post production jobs are only growing further.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-summer.eps-20100508,0,1690277.graphic

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2007/08/gaming-to-surge-50-percent-in-four-years-possibly.ars

Also in the music industry there are only a few possible jobs out there: runner, assistant engineer, engineer, mixer, producer, artist.  There are a few ancillary support jobs, but that’s the basics.

Post production sound, on the other hand, has a wider array of options: production assistant, transfer operator, recordist, ADR mixer, Foley mixer, Foley artist, dialog editor, sound effects editor, music editor, sound designer, post sound supervisor, dialog mixer, effects mixer, music mixer, assistant engineer, lead engineer, support technician, and more.

In music there’s no union protecting the rights of workers, and employers often take advantage of this fact with long hours and bad pay.  Not so in post production sound.  We have a strong union that looks out for us, and negotiates for some mighty-nice pay rates:

https://www.editorsguild.com/EmpPostProdMajors09_10.cfm

By the way, those rates are just MINIMUMS.  People who are really in-demand can command higher pay rates.

One more practical consideration is that music industry jobs have completely unpredictable schedules that typically involve workdays starting at 4:00PM and going until the wee hours of the morning (the musicians can’t be bothered to show up to the studio any earlier than that!)  That’s cool while you’re young and rockin, but it’s not much fun when you’re in your 40′s with a wife and kids and you have to work all night long.

Post production sound on the other hand is generally a Monday-to-Friday, 9:00AM to 6:00PM kind of job with predictable schedules.  TV shows have fixed air dates, movies and videogames have fixed release dates.  Sure, some jobs go late and there are some second-shift positions, but generally it’s much more of a “normal” schedule than music.

And the best part is, all that time you spent learning Avid Pro Tools is just what you need!  As big as Pro Tools is in the music world, it’s even more dominant in post production sound.  And this blog is here to tell you all about working with Pro Tools in post production sound!  So read up, ask questions, make comments, let me know what you think!

And keep working on that album, because who knows, maybe you will be a Rock Star after all!  But in the meantime, a job in post production sound is Awesome.  Just like Pro Tools is Awesome!